Roadblock in Ghatail protests attack on UP chairman's house

Protesting an attack on the house of a local union chairman, supporters yesterday blocked the busy Tangail-Mymensingh road blocked for one and a half hours in Ghatail upazila of Tangail, disrupting movement of hundreds of vehicles.

The protesters, numbering a few hundreds, also demonstrated in front of Ghatail Police Station, as police "denied recording a case" over the attack.

The house of Jamuria Union Parishad (UP) Chairman Shahidul Islam Khan Hesting was vandalised by rivals on Wednesday night.

His wife yesterday led the blockade and withdrew the protest only after police assured them of taking necessary steps.

On Wednesday evening, police detectives submitted a charge sheet against 14 people, including Awami League's Tangail-3 (Ghatail) lawmaker Amanur Rahman Khan Rana and his three brothers, over the murder of the district AL leader Faruk Ahmed.

The filing of charges led to a tension between the supporters of the lawmaker and his rival Shahidul Islam Lebu, convenor of Ghatail upazila AL, on the same night.

While the lawmaker Rana's supporters vandalised billboards of two local AL leaders in Ghatail Bus Stand area, the group of Lebu attacked the house of Rana's supporter Hesting, the chairman, and vandalised it.

To prevent clashes, the local administration imposed Section 144 in the upazila headquarters till 12:00am Friday.

Faruk Ahmed, member of the district AL, was murdered in January 2013.

The local lawmaker Rana and his three brothers were allegedly involved in it, and all four have been in hiding for more than one year.